


Painting the Subject

by gaysquared



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crack Treated Seriously, Gray and Lyon are both in the swim team (for reference), Humor, M/M, Potentially unsafe sex, gray is an art major, its oral but you know technically you’re still supposed to use a condom, natsu is on the soccer/football team and listen he ABSOLUTELY plays midfield, that is a fact
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 15:41:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15911268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaysquared/pseuds/gaysquared
Summary: Gray is an art major who needs a model ASAP for a nude portrait that’s due the next day.His options are limited.A gift for my lovely friend!





	Painting the Subject

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dreaming_of_Fairys](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreaming_of_Fairys/gifts).



> If haven’t checked out Dreaming_of_Fairys’ fic Teardrops & Coffee, you should! They’ve really come so far with their writing and it’s amazing to be able to see that in a single work. 
> 
> This little fic takes place in their College AU (in which T&C is set), which features lots of Stingue as well as other character cameos. 
> 
> Also, I accidentally made Natsu confirmed ADHD in this fic without even meaning to. So whoops. He’s just my fellow chaos brain boy now.

Gray finally brings it up when they’re eating lunch in the student union.

“Look, you know I’m taking that portraits class?” he says, shoving his hand into a bag of Takis. “I need to do a full nude sketch. And it’s due... you know, tomorrow.”

Lucy glances up from where she sits across from him, appraising him lightly. “You know I have that stats project and a sociology paper due tomorrow. Don’t look at me.”

Gray groans, leaning back in his seat. “But there’s maybe, like, three people on this earth who wouldn’t make it awkward. Just because Loke keeps asking to be the subject doesn’t mean I’m going to actually put myself through that.”

Lucy hums, a noncommittal sound, and doesn’t look up from her laptop. Gray tosses a Taki in her general direction, but it only falls on the table, where she snatches it up a moment later and simply places it into her mouth with a crunch.

Gray huffs. If only Cana had actually been on time to lunch, for once. She would have agreed in a heartbeat, but at this rate, he’s doomed.

“Hey guys!” comes Natsu’s overenthusiastic voice, the man bounding towards them from the hallway. “I’m finally done with the disability lady,” he says, sliding hard into a chair between Gray and Lucy. “And I got Panda Express.”

“You should ask him,” Lucy says automatically, still not looking up from her work.

Gray almost chokes on the Taki in his throat. “No fucking way!” he hisses, as if Natsu weren’t right there beside him. “He’s not exactly tactful, Luce!”

“I mean, yeah, he could be a little more respectful talking about his disability rep, but—“

“You know what I mean!” Gray says, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Actually,” Natsu says between bites of orange chicken, “I don’t. I don’t know. I missed the conversation up till now, so? No. I don’t know. Ask me about what?”

Gray swallows. “It’s nothing. An art project.”

“The flat kind or the 3D kind?” Natsu says, shirt already specked with white rice.

“If you mean a drawing and not a sculpture, then the flat kind, idiot,” Gray mumbles, feeling hopeless.

“Rude,” Natsu accuses, picking up a Taki and throwing it at him.

“Hey!” Gray yells. “Hey, no! That’ll burn, not the Takis!”

“It’s a nude sketch,” Lucy interjects. “It’s due tomorrow and Gray hasn’t had anyone else volunteer.”

Natsu pauses, looking in her direction. “Oh.” He seems to mull this over. “Yeah, okay. I could do that. My thighs have been getting pretty jacked, so that might have to be the focus.”

“Nobody actually asked you,” Gray says, “and I need someone who won’t leave in the middle of it and throw a paperweight at my head.”

“I can be civil,” Natsu says, in a very uncivil voice. “Not fair, dude. I’m grade-A model material. You’re just chicken about finally seeing somebody else’s dick for the first time.”

“Oh my god,” Gray lets out quietly. Lucy snorts. “Oh. My god.”

“It is kinda hard to see them when they’re in your mouth,” Lucy says softly, and Gray could honestly throttle her.

“I mean, it is,” Natsu confirms. “Speaking from experience. It’s mostly sweaty bod and double chin you see from down there.”

“I never thought I’d say this, but can we please go back to talking about how I have to draw somebody naked,” Gray groans, feeling a headache coming on. “You know what? Fine. You can model, Natsu. But only because it’s due at midnight.”

Natsu gives a whoop of victory, and Lucy looks up at him. “I thought you said it was due tomorrow,” she says.

“Yeah, 12 am is tomorrow, so.”

Lucy blinks heavily, rolling her eyes. “Dear god, Gray.”

“Okay, technically the paragraph write-up that comes with it is due at midnight. The actual drawing is due in class tomorrow.” A simple explanation, really.

“It’s your funeral,” Lucy sighs.

_________

They settle on using Natsu’s room, since he doesn’t have a roommate (one of the few perks that being on disability resources has actually given him), and Gray wants to avoid Loke at all costs.

He brings his laptop (just in case), sketchbook, and his small set of pencils, graphite pieces, and erasers, finally knocking on Natsu’s door after dinner. Natsu opens it quickly, energetic as always, and invites Gray in with a sweeping motion of his hand.

“I wasn’t sure if I should already be naked when you got here,” Natsu says, pulling his desk chair out for Gray to sit on as Gray follows him into the room, “but I decided to stick with the clothes, just in case.”

Gray can say he certainly prefers it, that’s for sure. He’s not sure if he could have handled being greeted by a fully naked Natsu. He sets down in the chair, flipping open his sketchbook and beginning to get out his materials. Part of him really does want to get this over with, as quickly as possible.

“So. Clothes off now, then, or?” Natsu is standing in front of him, looking unsure.

“Uh, yeah,” Gray says with a shrug. Natsu actually gives him a thumbs up.

He strips quickly and easily; not that it’s that hard to get undressed from a cropped sports jersey and basketball shorts. Natsu pulls down his briefs without hesitation, then stands back up proudly, as if expecting some sort of applause.

Not that it’s a bad body to look at. Sculpted, well-trained, defined in all the right places; but it’s more about the person it’s attached to.

“Okay...” Gray raises an eyebrow. “You can take whatever pose you want. Just; probably choose a position you can hold for a while.”

“Oh, I can hold any position you want, Ice Queen,” Natsu says with an overdone wink. “It’s _all_ about the stamina.”

Gray makes a gurgled, frustrated noise in the back of his throat. Natsu doesn’t seem to notice, as he’s too busy trying to find a pose, and settles for a proud stance with his hands on his hips, feet apart. Alright, Gray can work with that. It’s certainly a change from your everyday demure nude sketch, that’s for sure.

“Okay, starting,” Gray says, and Natsu nods. He begins with the rough shapes, eyeing the ratio of Natsu’s shoulders to his waist, which is somewhat smaller than average, but his overall build is still fairly square and blocky. Expected of a soccer player, Gray thinks. He can already see Natsu fidgeting out of the corner of his eye, but he ignores it; it’s only to be expected.

“Why don’t you just have models wear underwear?” Natsu asks suddenly, probably from boredom. “Seems easier. Draw everything you need without them having their junk out.”

Gray pauses, blinking, and searches for the answer he knows is obvious. “Uh, the lines,” he says. “It’s ‘cause it ruins the natural lines of the body; like, if the fabric is tugging on you and all that.”

“Huh,” Natsu says, nodding. “Makes sense I guess.”

Gray makes it to the fuller outline, glancing up and down; and, okay, Natsu was right. His thighs really are something. Like, could-crush-your-head something; although Gray knows they’re mostly put to use sprinting through midfield. He begins to feel a little warm, but wards it off, clearing his throat.

Natsu is practically starting to dance on his toes, and it’s making Gray lose focus.

“Hey, look, I know it’s hard for you of all people to stand still for this long, but I just gotta go over with the details, so—“

“I can stand still,” Natsu says, pouting.

Gray sighs. “Natsu, it’s not an insult. You literally have ADHD. Like I said, it’s to be expected.”

“Oh.” Natsu relaxes from his defensive, tensed state. “Okay. Kinda more fun being mad at you, though.”

“I could’ve guessed,” Gray says, giving a small laugh, emphatically telling himself the way Natsu had pouted was not cute; not cute at all. He just has to focus on the final lines, and this is over, if it can just not get awkward between now and then, it’ll be fine.

He finalizes the hips, the grab of Natsu’s fingers on his own flesh, and moves lower. He thinks of how drawing soft penises is always kind of weird, considering they without a doubt, tend to look like sad slugs.

That doesn’t seem to be a problem in this case, however, because Natsu is; at least a little bit; hard. Like, that half-chub you get in the shower but you’re too tired after a long day to even care type of hard. Hard by a small degree. But, unfortunately, any amount of hard is enough to make it awkward as hell.

And then Natsu, whom he’s never pegged as particularly observant, must notice him fidgeting, because he says, “ah, sorry. I kinda get off on being watched? Didn’t think it would come up, though.” He gives a laugh. “Up, haha. Get it?”

“Yeah, no, I get it,” Gray says tensely, rushing through the final details as he begins to sweat. He wouldn’t say watching had been a particularly unenjoyable experience, but he’s not about to admit that. “Done,” he says finally, a little too high-pitched.

“Nice,” Natsu says, looking all too happy to be free to move again. He bounds over, bending to look at the sketchbook. “Can I see? Oh, yeah, look at me! Nose is a little off, though.”

Gray sighs loudly; partially because he’s glad it’s finally over, but now Natsu’s somewhat hard dick is way, way closer to his face and directly in his line of vision.

“Right,” Gray says, trying to stand, and realizes he’s broken a pencil in half in his grip. _Fuck, that was expensive_. “If we’re done, then I’ll just—“

“Wait, wait,” Natsu says, although he lets Gray stand. “I’ll let you turn it in on one condition.”

Gray nearly chokes. “ _Now_ you’re making stipulations?!”

“Dude, chill, like,” Natsu gives a vague gesture with his hand. “I’m just saying, okay? I think I should get to see you naked too, obviously.”

 _Obviously_.

“Why?” Gray asks. “Natsu, I’m pretty sure we’ve both seen each other naked before.”

“In passing!” Natsu says. “Streaking across the football field doesn’t count. You just sat there and stared at my naked bod for like, an hour; it’s only fair.”

It had certainly been no more than twenty minutes, Gray thinks, but Natsu can be forgiven for that part. The other man places a hand on Gray’s shoulder.

“Dude. C’mon. It’s bonding.”

Gray can’t believe this, honestly.

“Fine! Fine, you perv,” he says, throwing his hands up.

Natsu says something like “see, you’re not always stupid,” which Gray decidedly ignores. He just shoves down his jeans, feeling strangely aggressive, and pulls off the tank that still has red dust on it from the Takis earlier. He doesn’t think as he pulls off the boxer-briefs next, resolute. Finally, he stands there, a little cold, and tries not to feel thoroughly annoyed.

Natsu gives him an appraising grin, like he’s finally having fun. “See, dude? We both got great bods, but with different strengths. I got killer calves cause my legs do most of the work, right—”

Gray thinks about calling him hardheaded for being able to take head shots again, but thinks better of it.

“And I bet you got like, crazy shoulders dude, I can tell from here,” Natsu continues. “Turn around! Show off those traps, bro, the swimming’s good for something!”

Gray hisses in anger, but he really, really, needs this A. All he ever does is argue with this teacher, and it has not worked out well for him grade-wise. So he turns, allowing Natsu this cursory little enjoyment.

“See, man!” Natsu says. “Like I said, shoulders for days, hella traps, hella delts!”

Gray stops turning, facing Natsu once again. “Right. Anything else?” He says it in a rather flat, bored voice, but Natsu doesn’t seem to notice.

“We both got great thighs,” Natsu says, hitting Gray lightly on the chest, as if in camaraderie. He pauses then, giving Gray another once over. “And... honestly? Both got great cocks. Just saying.”

“What?” Gray splutters, suddenly certain none of this is real.

“Well, yeah,” Natsu shrugs. “It’s just the truth. We’re two hot dudes, with two great bodies. Anybody would be like, totally privileged to suck your dick. Seriously.”

Before Gray’s brain can’t shut down completely, he’s says, “Wait, anybody?”

“Yeah.”

“So like... including you?”

Natsu goes pink at this, clearly not having expected Gray to notice that opening. “Well... yeah. I mean... I didn’t think you’d be up for anything like that, so. Why say anything?”

“Well, maybe I am up for it,” Gray says, desperately trying to avoid the obvious boner humor. “I- I mean if you are. Obviously.”

Natsu looks up, eyes lighting with something rather terrifying and almost predatory. “Yeah?”

“Yeah...”

_________

Gray would love to say there’s not a lot of speaking after that; for a while, there isn’t, because they’re busy kissing, harsh but also so, so nice, because Natsu’s lips are actually so soft— But then when Gray pulls open Natsu’s nightstand to look for condoms, he’s quickly informed that Natsu, for some reason, only has gag gift condoms, and he’s not sure any of them are actually safe to use.

Gray’s hopeful about one that says Durex and just has a Star Wars design on the packaging; but it’s expired.

... Natsu goes down on him anyway.

He feels like he’s dreaming later as Natsu sits on top of him, jacking off onto his chest; that is, until, Natsu ruins it by saying, “I guess I’m the artist now, because this is gonna be a painting,” and then Gray starts to yell at him, but Natsu is coming anyway.

His face and chest are covered, and Natsu won’t stop grinning.

“Hand me my phone,” Gray says quietly, feeling like he’s burning up again.

“What?”

“Hand me my phone!”

Natsu rolls his eyes. “Fine, geez.”

He hops off, grabbing Gray’s phone out of his bag and tossing it to him.

Gray’s face burns with embarrassment; he takes the picture of his face anyway. He’s definitely saving that for later.

Natsu laughs. “So it _is_ art! I told you.”

Gray can’t tell him to shut up fast enough.

Later, after another couple rounds, Natsu has drifted off, and Gray (with a clean face, thanks), realizes he still has to submit that stupid paragraph. He opens his laptop, going to the appropriate school website, and pauses, unsure what to write. “I boned the model,” probably isn’t the right thing to say, even if it’s accurate. He bullshits his way through it, like he usually does.

Afterwards, he joins Natsu in bed, turning out the light; still insisting, and adamantly, that Natsu isn’t cute when he sleeps. Not at all.

(Gray just likes that he’s finally quiet. That’s it.)

**Author's Note:**

> It’s mostly just fucky nonsense, but that’s why it was fun! 
> 
> I don’t write a lot for FT anymore, but when it comes to friends, well; I just can’t resist. We talked about Gray being an art major, and that eventually led to “what if it was that classic trope and he had to draw Natsu naked.”
> 
> Since she’s still busy with the main fic of this universe, I thought I’d write this one-shot for her as a gift (not that it was particularly troublesome for me, as I found it hilarious).


End file.
